Peoria seeing friends and an anchorage near Beardstown, Illinois

On Labor Day, Monday, October 7 we decided to leave Ottawa since weather was favorable to head to our next stop, Peoria, Illinois. We left at 7 am and soon passed Buffalo Rock and Starved Rock and then came to the Starved Rock Lock. There were a few small pleasure boats and another looper boat, "Eksit" Strategy (Steve and Leigh) rafted up with us in the lock. After this we passed Peru, several eagles, and some beach areas near Chillicothe. It was Labor Day so there were a lot of boats on the beaches. One  beach in Upper Peoria Lake near Spring Bay was interesting because the beach area was so close to the narrow channel. We also saw a very unusual boat which we learned later is called Flotsam River Circus that performs on river fronts. We arrived at The Ivy Club (IVY being Illinois Valley Yacht Club) at about 3:30. It was a little disconcerting because at the entrance we had only about 2.5 feet under us, but we made it through. Bill and Anne (boat Sequel) were there and he helped guide us in on the radio along with a volunteer from the Ivy Club. Once settled we were excited to see our friend Rhonda who graciously picked us up and we met our other friends Karen and Michael for dinner at Olympia Sports Bar and Grill, an excellent  greek restaurant and sports bar. Along the way we saw some amazing views of the river from Peoria Heights.  Rhonda, Karen, and I are AXO sorority sisters and went to college at the University of Iowa in the early 80s. It's always fun to be together and "pick up where we left off"  with them. After that Karen and Michael took us back to the boat and we continued catching up. 

On Tuesday, September 7,  day 2 in Peoria,  Karen picked us up in the afternoon so we could go to Target and Benny's for provisions. After taking supplies back to the boat, we drove around Peoria Heights to see the large homes in Prospect Park and Grandview Drive with views overlooking the water.  We went for drinks and appetizers at  Olio and Vino in Peoria Heights. Olio and Vino is an olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and wine store that also has wine tastings and appetizers and cocktails. In Tim's opinion  it  was a total "girl" place. He says they  didn't even serve a normal size beer.  Later we met up with Michael and drove to nearby Eureka to an amazing restaurant called The Pickled Radish. We were joined by Rhonda and Charlie.  Michelle and Jeff are the owners and they came to check on us and we got a photo with them. We all agreed it was some of the best food we have ever had! We had the pork belly appetizers and the "hot mess" appetizers which are pepper jack fried  cheese curds. I had the best bourbon salmon I have ever had and others raved about the ribeye, the apple smoked brisket and the bacon jam pork chop. All dishes are garnished with pickled radishes. For any loopers in the area, check it out! Rhonda and Charlie took us back to see the boat and we had them put the pin on our map for Peoria. 

Wednesday, September 9 was our last day in Peoria.  After a rainy morning we had lunch at the Ivy Club where we were docked. In the afternoon, Karen and Michael picked us up and we toured the Caterpillar Visitor Center/Museum.  There were other loopers there too, including Leigh and Steve. I got a photo of them in the industrial  loader.  One interesting thing was that the auditorium that shows the video that starts the tour is  inside of the 797 Mining Truck. It gives you a sense of just how large it is! After this we went over to Martini's located in an old railroad station. We also visited the Constitution Garden which was created in 1989 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. The brick walkway has the Amendments and there are 13 flags for the 13 original colonies. We also saw the Dan Fogelberg Memorial. Dan was a 70s era musician and was from Peoria! There are 3 stones with lyrics from 3 of his songs and a bench next to it with his photo. There was another bench on Grandview Drive with Dan Fogelberg's photo on it and we met Rhonda and Charlie there. They knew exactly where it was since they were married right in front of it with the beautiful view of the river. We all had dinner at Slow Hand Barbecue in Peoria Heights. We then visited the 33 Room located in the old Pabst Brewery, named for the 1940s slogan "33 fine brews blended into one great beer". The guys then stopped at the Navy Marine Club while we girls went to Rosie's Wine Bar. We had such a great time with our friends in Peoria that we hated to say goodbye but we will see each other in November at our annual Hawkeye game weekend in Iowa City!

Thursday, September 10 we left Peoria at 7 am and enjoyed the views of the city from the water. We waited about an hour for the Peoria Lock and went through it with Eksit Strategy.  After this  we needed a train bridge to lift in Pekin and the bridge master was hilarious. He had a megaphone and as we went through said "Welcome to Pekin Bridge Island. Thank you for visiting and come again" (or something to that effect). I bet that makes a monotonous job more interesting and we certainly got a kick out of it. Another part of the trip was going around a dredging barge in operation which took up almost the whole channel!  We arrived at the Bar Island anchorage around 5:00 near Beardstown, Illinois. Eksit Strategy was there as well as 2nd Time Around. We had "dock tails" on Debbie and Mike's boat (2nd Time Around) and rode over there on Eksit Strategy's dinghy. Later Tim and I ended the night by celebrating going over 6000 miles with our last Caymus! Tomorrow we will finish our loop (called "crossing our wake") in Grafton, Illinois!